Something To Talk About
by PunkPinkPower
Summary: The Shiba house is a mysterious and intriguing place for the citizens of Panorama City.


_Notes: Originally written for kiirotsubasa for the Power Rangers Universe Building Exchange. So this assumes that Jayden was born in 1993, making him 18 at the time of the series. The timeline is supposed to be close to that, but of course this means that the original team was happening during MMPR, so… *shrugs helplessly* just go with it!_

The Shiba house, an elaborate mansion near the center of Panorama City, sprang up almost overnight in 1993. The acre of land it occupied had been purchased some twenty years before that by some foreign interest, and had sat barren since, waiting to be used. Around it had sprung up a fairly upscale part of town; an outlet mall, a farmers market, several luxurious subdivisions, and a concert hall then most often used by folk singers.

Construction actually took a little over a month, but all the locals would talk about for years was how fast that house had come up. "I've never seen a rush job like it," would say Ron Dawkins, owner of the city's most prominent construction firm, "And using out of town constriction agencies! Good people support local businesses. I'd be wary of anyone what moved in there."

And of course, someone did move in, not a week after the paint had dried. Several someone's, though not nearly enough to fill the 8 bedroom house.

From what people said around town about him, Alan Shiba was a generally well liked man. He and his very pregnant wife and young daughter made all the rounds about town that month, buying from the farmers market, visiting and making contributions to the concern hall, and even donating generously to local charities. Alan himself, an outgoing young man, loved to chat people up about their life in Panorma City, while Michelle Shiba tended to talk business; Alan would ask the fishermen how the fishing had been that week, while Michelle would insist on paying them extra for their finest fish.

And always trailing behind them, a topic of much conversation, was an out of place looking man with dark skin and a disapproving look. And wherever Alan and Michelle went, no matter the smiles on their faces, there he stood behind them, in his—What was it? People wondered. A dress? A Kimono?—formal attire, most often with a frown on his face.

When asked, Michelle would say he was a dear family friend helping them look after their daughter and prepare for their son.

A male nanny? How unconventional, people would say. How odd. How like these strange Shiba's.

Of course, Michelle's answer never satisfied anyone, and rumors about the exotic man spread rapidly. He was her lover, some insisted, and she was pregnant with his child.

Or maybe, others said, he was both of their lovers! Maybe there were involved in some strange sex thing- "Hey, it is the 90's," shrugs Millicent Gamby to the girls in the hair salon.

Still others insisted he was their indentured servant. "I've never seen him be paid," Helena Tracey insists to her book club, "And what else could he have to look so upset about all the time? That outfit? They make him wear it. It's his _slave outfit_."

When they weren't talking about Ji, they were talking about where the Shiba's had gotten all their money from.

"They're millionaires," Arnold Folger at the all night bowling alley tells everyone who asks, "Inherited it from some great uncle or aunt who died under what I hear were very mysterious circumstances."

"I heard they struck it rich in Reno," Betty Crum says to her customers in the checkout line at the grocery store, "Wiped out the whole casino they won so big!"

"No, no, Betty," Elise Rodgriguez corrects, waving her off, "They struck something, but it wasn't in any casino! Oil! They were out camping and they nailed a spike in the ground, and it just came spouting up like a fountain."

Talking about Ji and the Shiba's money and extravagant lifestyle kept everyone in Panorama City busy.

That is, until the Nighlock attacks started that following Spring.

After that, no one seemed to see much of Alan Shiba and his wife, not even of their nanny. There were other things to talk about, of course, like where the monsters were coming from, and who these masked heroes were that were fighting them off.

Rom Dawkin's finally stops complaining about Alan Shiba hiring an outside construction agency though, when his business nearly triples thanks to all the damage from the Nighlocks.

People do wonder, though, when they see several families arriving a few weeks later and moving into the Shiba house. It was certainly big enough to house them all, but why doesn't anyone ever see them coming or going?

"It's a cult," Ruthanne Molinaxe swears, crossing herself, "They're praising Satan in there! Someone ought to report them and rescue those poor children!"

"They're just afraid of the monsters," George Molinaxe insists, rolling his eyes at his wife, "I bet they're bodyguards, or private security, and they brought their families cause they have to work twenty-four seven!"

Some people actually do call the police on the house later that year, when there seem to be a few too many commotions late at night.

The official report says fireworks, but of course no one in town believes that.

"Maybe they're wizards," Tony Buchannan muses to his pals at the barbershop, "With, you know, magical wands and whatnot."

No one really pays Tony much mind.

Oh yes, talking about the Shiba house and its occupants never gets old for the people of Panorama City. Somewhere there's always a rumor, something funny being said, something to laugh over or worry about. People talk about the Shiba house almost every day for the four years the family lives there.

Until Alan and Michelle and their daughter die, tragically, in a car accident in 1997.

The whole city attends the funeral, and many people talk about how well they knew the Shiba's, how much their presence in the community will be missed. And then all of the other families move out of the Shiba house, and no one wants to talk about the tragedy again.

The Nighlock attacks stop that same week, and no one wants to talk or think about the sad story of the Shiba house anymore, or about the sad, lonely little boy left alone inside it.

* * *

"Hey, Alonso," one of his crew mates asks the new Panorama City resident one afternoon, "Saw you coming from the old Shiba house this morning. What you doing there?"

Alonso Garcia looks up from the net he's untangling, the bright sun reflecting off the ocean waters and making him squint his eyes. "My son made friends with the little boy who lives there," Alonso says, and tries to remember the boy's name, "Jimmy? Jackson?"

"Jayden?" His crewmate asks, eyes going wide, and Alonso notices several other of his crew looking over at them.

"Ay, that's it, Jayden!" He says, finally finishing with the net and dropping it. He wipes his thick gloves on his pants, turns to his coworker. "Cute little kid. His guardian offered to look after my boy for me while I work, so they can play together. Nice man."

His crewmate's eyes go a little wider, and he seems to exchange a look with their other workers.

"Why?" Alonso wonders, wiping sweat from his face.

His crewmate opens his mouth like he's going to say something, and then a sad look comes over his face, and he shakes his head instead. "Naw, it's nothing. The boy, he's okay, huh?"

Alonso shrugs. "Okay as any kid being homeschooled, I guess. They ain't religious nuts or something, right?"

His crewmates all sort of grin sheepishly, and the one he's talking to shakes his head. "Not that we know of."

Alonso feels like he's missing something, but he never has much time to find out about the local personalities. When winter comes, the work moves, and so Alonso and his boy move, too.

* * *

"Betty!" Ruthanne Molinaxe says, coming up to Betty's register in the grocery store, "You'll never believe it!"

"What now, Ruthanne?" Betty wonders, bagging some groceries for her customer with an indulging smile. "You see Elvis on your toast again?"

"It's the Shiba house!" Ruthanne says excitedly, worriedly, "It's happening again! People are moving in."

Betty freezes bagging her customer's wart remover cream and turns. "What?"

"Just like before! When all those families moved in right before the Shiba's died in that car accident. There's people moving in!" Ruthanne exclaims, and then she's heading out the door of the super market.

Betty exchanges a look with her customer, and then the two of them and lots of other people are following her out of the super market and down the street, around the corner to where you can see the Shiba house a few blocks down.

Big black vans are parked out front, and out of them several teenagers are pulling suitcases.

"I don't believe it," Betty whispers as the crowd gathers to stare.

"Not right," Ruthanne says, taking notes on her pad, "Not natural."

"What do you think it means?" One of the crowd members asks, and Betty just shakes her head.

"Maybe we ought to go play the slots," she says, to the confused looks of her customers.

* * *

The rumors start again.

It's almost like picking up right where they left off, some twenty years later. Even the Nighlock attacks start up again, and this time there's a bit more speculation about whether the Shiba house and its inhabitants protect the city or work in cahoots with the monsters.

But most of the talk revolves around Jayden, when he starts coming into the town again. His energetic friends drag him out of the house for the first time in years, taking him to the amusement part, to the market, to the ocean shore. People see him, engage him in conversation, tell him how much he's been missed in the community.

It might not necessarily be true. It wasn't Jayden's presence itself that the community had been missing, but having him now does do something to the citizens of Panorama City. In a way, it seems to bring them back together, in a way they haven't been since the tragedy of Jayden's family all those years ago.

Jenny Dawkins, having taken over her father's construction business, lowers prices to survivors of Nighlock attacks trying to rebuild. The local neighborhood watch committees start back up, and they make sure anyone dealing with aftereffects of Nighlock attacks gets the help they need. Arnold Folger's bowling alley starts holding monthly community clean ups, and the Rodriguez Foundation For A Better Future starts a tree planting project, which Jayden and his friends help out with.

Helena Tracey even invites Ji to join her book club.

Some of the mystery disappears the more the locals get to know these smart, lovely young people who live in the Shiba House, but there's still talk. What are they training for? Why do they all live there? Are they in some sort of strange, multi person relationship? Some questions you just don't ask people to their face.

For the most part, the rumors die down, and the citizens of Panorama City put their energy into other useful things, instead.

Until the day when Lauren Shiba comes back from the dead, and, _well_.

One thing's for certain: As long as the Shiba house is around, the citizens of Panorama City will always have something to talk about.


End file.
